Patrick and Cassill had been racing hard when Cassill dove to her inside in Turn 4 on Lap 155 of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Patrick then drove up to Cassill's rear bumper and tapped his No. 83 car twice before hitting it in the right rear quarter panel, causing Cassill to spin. They were racing for 25th position when they wrecked.

Patrick then lost control of her car as well, spinning down onto the apron and then shooting back up into the outside wall.

She was admonished by crew chief Greg Zipadelli, however, who, according to ESPN, told Patrick, "You know better than to do that."

Patrick said she had been getting miffed with Cassill throughout the race.

"I had just been really frustrated with the 83. He slammed into me on the front straight for no other reason than his radio communication of, 'She was in the way,' " she said. "I've always played fair, but if it's one time I can imagine frustration but it’s been pretty consistent with him getting into me and so, at some point, I have to stand up for myself or everyone is going to do it.

"The bummer is this was my Texas car. We were having a good run and making the car better and then I’m out of the race and he’s not."

Asked what Zipadelli said to her after climbing from her car, Patrick said, "Be honest."

Patrick's best finish in her previous seven Sprint Cup races was 25th at Chicago.

Cassill told SBNation.com after the race that he was aggravated with Patrick for making a three-wide move around him and not completing it.

"If you're going to make it three-wide and pass somebody, you've got to back it up," Cassill told SBNation. "But she didn't. She goes under there, and then she's sliding up the racetrack and then jacks up the field, gets in the way. Then she lets two cars go by, and when I get underneath her, she crowds me. So I was like, 'No! I've been faster than you all day,' so I was going to move her. And I did.

"I didn't hit her because she was in my way and I wanted to pick on her, I hit her because she was driving like an idiot for 30th."

Patrick said she has had problems with Cassill in the past.

"A couple of times, he’s come over and said, ‘Hey, sorry.’ A couple of times he has hit me and had to say that," she said. "So how many times are you really sorry and how many times are you just like, ‘I’m sorry, I hope you don’t get into the back of me.’

"I know that when I’m running behind people, I do everything I can to stay off of them because I don’t want to make them mad. But when it’s happened a few times and I’ve only done how many races? I have to stand up for myself."

Patrick said she was sending a message by wrecking Cassill.

"You can’t just hit me for no reason other than I’m in the way. You’ve got to know that it’s going to come back to you if you do it," Patrick said. "... I let frustration get to me but I also think I have to stand up for myself."